1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tools and, more particularly, to a tool handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of manually-employed tools are known in the relevant art. At least one type of manually-employed tool includes a handle that can be held by a user and an implement mounted on the handle, typically at one end thereof. Such manually employed tools include, for example, shovels, rakes, hoes, picks, as well as other tools.
The handles for such tools have been made of wood, fiberglass materials, plastic, and other materials. Such handles also have typically been substantially round in cross section. While such tool handles have been generally effective for their intended purposes, such tool handles have not, however, been without limitation.
Since wood is a natural material, wooden tool handles have been known to break or otherwise fail during use. Fiberglass materials do not typically break during use, but it is known that such fiberglass handles have a tendency to fatigue during use, with the result that glass fibers can become exposed, which can cause injury to the user if such exposed glass fibers penetrate the skin. Plastic handles are limited in their application due to the limited strength afforded by many plastics. It is thus desired to provide an improved tool handle that has the strength and durability of fiberglass materials without the potential for glass fibers to penetrate the skin of the user.
It is also known that round tool handles can be somewhat uncomfortable to use for extended periods of time. Discomfort can result both to experienced workers who must use a tool for periods of eight hours or more as well as to relatively inexperienced users who use a tool for, say, an hour. Wood is relatively expensive to form in cross sections other than round, and man-made materials have the aforementioned shortcomings when employed to form tool handles. It is thus desired to provide an improved tool handle having an ergonomic shape and that is neither too expensive to manufacture nor potentially injurious to a user. Such an improved tool handle and resulting tool might advantageously be configured to provide for an improved grip by a user.